These were the same types of things that we have noticed were common in the very early days of the “church” beginnings in the accounts offered in the New Testament. Please note the following passage based upon Chapter Two from The New Testament book of Acts,
“They even shared from their own possessions to help support anyone who had needs. They were seen day-by-day; always gathering together, with an unspoken sense of unity, in the temple courtyards, and many times when they would share their meals together in their homes. At these impromptu gatherings they would enjoy share]ing their food with each other with glad and very joyous hearts, and they were always having good things to share with each other about how God seemed to be actively working within their lives, Moreover, they seemed to have great favor among all the people of the city – so much so that God added to the numbers everyday.”
(Based upon Acts 2:45-47)
Our point is, if that was an example of how the earliest church operated as an “organization” or “community,” then how did we evolve the idea of “church” into a single hour long meeting where people sit in rows facing the front of the building and not looking at each other while we spend half of that time singing songs which no “outsider” would ever know and then listening the rest of the time to some single person give a talk. Most of our participants cannot reconcile how that is any effective sort of “community” building exercise or lifestyle?